Positions at a glance
Supporters
Brokered exploits are previously undisclosed software flaws — often "zero-days" — together with the code needed to weaponize them, that change hands through commercial brokers rather than being reported to the vendor or released publicly. Brokers act as middlemen: they vet sellers (independent researchers, exploit-development boutiques, or hacking crews), package the exploit with documentation and sometimes ongoing support, and resell it to buyers, typically intelligence agencies, militaries, law-enforcement bodies, and private offensive-security firms.
Opponents
The market has both above-ground and grey-market layers. Public-facing brokers such as Zerodium and Crowdfense advertise standing bounties — Zerodium has publicly offered up to $2.5 million for full-chain Android zero-click exploits. Other transactions occur privately between contractors and state customers. Pricing reflects scarcity, reliability, target platform, and required user interaction; remote zero-click chains against hardened mobile operating systems command the highest prices.
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In 2019, Zerodium publicly raised its bounty for a zero-click Android exploit chain to $2.5 million, signaling that brokered-exploit prices for mobile targets had surpassed those for iOS.
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